Iron is sharpened by iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
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The Verse in View
Proverbs 27:17 — "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" — reaches into a deep design of God: that men were not made to live in isolation, but to develop, refine, and even try one another through close company. The commentaries draw out three layers — the social design, the Christian fellowship that fulfils it, and the painful but purifying friction that even good company involves.
God's Social Design
One commentary places the proverb at the heart of why men gather at all. The mutual dependence built into our nature is itself God's arrangement, and friend striking friend is how latent powers come to the surface.
Frederick W. GrantThe city is the expression of human need, and the provision for it. There are other needs more universal than this, as that of cooperation, the division of labor, the result of that inequality of aptitudes by which God has made us mutually dependent. Our social nature is thus met, and there are formed and strengthened the ties by which the world is bound together; while the intercourse of mind with mind, of heart with heart, stimulates and develops every latent faculty. "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." (Prov. 27:17.)
The same writer presses the point further: the more unlike two men are, the more this sharpening can be drawn out — even out of the very clash of opposite traits.
Numerical Bible NotesYet man finds the help he seeks. "As iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." The bringing of men together favors this; and even the more diverse such men are, the more may this help be manifested — struck out, as one may say, even from the collision of contrasted attributes. Thus in the city we find, as a rule, the ripest fruits of man's efforts, and always, perhaps, his ripest wisdom.
He warns, however, that with fallen man "selfish ends dominate too largely to make the coming together wholly good," producing in cities both the highest achievements and the deepest debasements.
Sharpening in Christian Fellowship
Where natural society can only carry the principle so far, Christian companionship fulfils it. The new life inside the believer actually requires the company of other believers to grow strong.
Raymond K. CampbellFellowship and companionship with other Christians are also vital for feeding and developing the divine life. The new nature desires fellowship and companionship with God and with fellow believers. Association with fellow Christians draws out the new nature and strengthens the divine desires. "Two are better than one... for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow" (Eccl. 4:9-10). If one is weak in the faith and liable to fall, companionship with stronger Christians will lift him up and strengthen him. "Iron sharpeneth iron; so man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (Prov. 27:17). This is especially true in Christian companionship.
The picture is plain: the believer who tries to grow alone is like a blade no one ever puts to the stone. The desire for God's things is awakened, and weak faith is held up, by simple closeness to those who walk in the light.
The Friction That Refines
Sharpening is not always pleasant. Iron on iron throws sparks. Another writer is candid that even where no one has done anything sinful, the mere differences between believers create heat — and God uses that heat as a furnace.
J. G. BellettVariety of temper, different measures of attainment, the quality of the light and the form of the kingdom in us, if I may so express it, will occasion collision and trial, even where there is nothing morally wrong. But from whatever cause it be, so is it still, and so has it been from the days of Job and his friends, that we form a great part of each other's trial. The Lord sits over it all, refining His silver and purifying His gold, but still so it is, that we help to heat each other's furnace for the trial of faith.
This catches the fuller meaning of the proverb. The friend's countenance is sharpened not only by encouragement, but by the rub of difference, presided over by a Lord who is refining silver while the iron strikes.
Summary
- Designed dependence. God built unequal aptitudes into men so that "intercourse of mind with mind, of heart with heart" would develop every latent faculty.
- Difference helps. The more diverse two men are, the more the sharpening — sparks struck "from the collision of contrasted attributes."
- Fellowship feeds life. Association with other believers draws out the new nature; the weak in faith are lifted up by the stronger.
- Trial is part of it. Even without moral fault, variety of temper and attainment makes saints "a great part of each other's trial."
- God presides. While iron heats iron, the Lord sits above the friction "refining His silver and purifying His gold."